System and method for providing advertiser auctions based on segmentation informed by purchase data

ABSTRACT

A system and method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may include advertiser auctions based on segmentation informed by purchase data, including a financial institution, one or more advertisers, and a bidding server to facilitate advertiser bidding. Additionally, a system and method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may pool customer and/or transaction information in one or more databases. The system and method in accordance with exemplary embodiments may also utilize a bidding server to permit advertisers to bid on access to information or the ability to present an advertisement and/or offer to a customer.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationNo. 61/735,167, filed on Dec. 10, 2012, the entire contents of which isincorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for providingadvertiser auctions based on segmentation informed by purchase data.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the present disclosure, together with furtherobjects and advantages, may best be understood by reference to thefollowing description taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in the several Figures of which like reference numeralsidentify like elements, and in which:

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a system implementingadvertiser auctions based on segmentation informed by purchase data;

FIG. 2 depicts an example embodiment of a service provider system;

FIG. 3 depicts an example embodiment of a client device associated witha customer;

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a method for providingadvertiser auctions based on segmentation informed by purchase data; and

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary embodiment of a method for providingadvertiser auctions based on segmentation informed by purchase data.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Various example embodiments include a system including a database thatstores financial information about one or more customers of a financialinstitution, a communication module that receives a request to targetthe one or more customers of the financial institution with anadvertisement from a requester, a bidding server that receives one ormore bids from one or more bidders and determines one or more successfulbidders, and one or more computer processors configured to provide theadvertisement to the one or more customers of a financial institution asdetermined by the bidding server.

Various example embodiments also include a method including the steps ofstoring, in a database, financial information about one or morecustomers of a financial institution, receiving, via a network, arequest to target the one or more customers of the financial institutionwith an advertisement from a requester, receiving, via a network, one ormore bids from one or more bidders, determining, using one or morecomputer processors, one or more successful bidders, and providing, viaa network using one or more computer processors, the advertisement tothe one or more customers of a financial institution as determined bythe bidding server.

Various example embodiments also include a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium with an executable program storedthereon. The program instructs a microprocessor to perform the followingsteps store, in a database, financial information about one or morecustomers of a financial institution, receive, via a network, a requestto target the one or more customers of the financial institution with anadvertisement from a requester, receive, via a network, one or more bidsfrom one or more bidders, determine, using one or more computerprocessors, one or more successful bidders, and provide, via a networkusing one or more computer processors, the advertisement to the one ormore customers of a financial institution as determined by the biddingserver.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSURE

The following description is intended to convey a thorough understandingof the embodiments described by providing a number of specific exemplaryembodiments and details involving systems and methods for providingadvertiser auctions based on segmentation informed by purchase data. Itshould be appreciated, however, that the present disclosure is notlimited to these specific embodiments and details, which are exemplaryonly. It is further understood that one possessing ordinary skill in theart, in light of known systems and methods, would appreciate the use ofthe invention for its intended purposes and benefits in variousembodiments, depending on specific design and other needs. A financialinstitution and system supporting a financial institution are used asexamples for the disclosure. The disclosure is not intended to belimited to financial institutions only.

According to the various embodiments of the present disclosure, systemsand methods enable advertiser auctions based on segmentation informed bypurchase data. Advertiser auctions based on segmentation informed bypurchase data as shown and described herein may allow advertisers totarget bank customers with advertisements, such as, e.g., card-linkedoffers, online web-based advertisements, mobile advertisements, or otherlike advertisements. Advertiser auctions based on segmentation informedby purchase data as shown and described herein also may allowadvertisers to have the visibility into the information that financialinstitutions and/or banks may have about customers that otherwise may bedifficult to obtain. Accordingly, advertiser auctions based onsegmentation informed by purchase data as shown and described herein maypresent advertisers a level of transparency to enable, for example,card-linked offers, bank-delivered advertisements, and other likeadvertisements.

In the various embodiments, advertisers may access a bank-deliveredadvertisement account and identify how to target customers. For example,advertisers may target customers based on the amount spent by bankcustomers per month, the types of merchants where bank customers shop,the locations where bank customers shop, the amount bank customerstravel. Once advertisers identify how to target customers, advertisersmay allow advertisers to “bid” on certain bank customers based on, forexample, standardized metrics. Such standardized metrics can include,for example, the cost per offer delivered, cost per advertisementdelivered (e.g., television, online, and/or mobile advertisements), costper cookie dropped, and the like. These standardized metrics may allowadvertisers to have complete visibility into what the advertiserreceives for the amount spent on advertisements.

In various embodiments, multiple advertisers may bid on various customergroups such that the most desired groups may be the most expensive andthe least desired groups may be the least expensive. Once an advertiserwins the bid, and therefore wins the ability to advertise to bankcustomers, a bank advertiser may present the selected advertisement toits customers and, for example, track success rates. Bank advertisersmay use these success rates to develop, for example, impact scores thatcould be used to inform future advertiser bidding decisions.

Bank advertisers or financial institution advertisers may be, forexample, financial institutions that offer advertising services to oneor more advertisers. The various systems and methods disclosed hereinmay utilize purchase data instead of/prioritized over other data,thereby allowing additional granularity to assess the value of acustomer or party and enabling financial institutions to operate as, forexample, bank advertisers.

Financial institutions may be privy to a large amount of customer data.For example, a financial institution may possess information regarding acustomer's name, address, social security number, income information,transaction information, demographic information, or any otherinformation. A financial institution also may possess purchase and/ortransaction data relating to its customers. For example and not by wayof limitation, purchase and/or transaction data may include informationthat describes the purchase of a good or service and are associated witha payment account, including credit cards, debit cards, prepaid cards,stored value accounts, gift cards, and accounts that have underlyinglinks to any of the aforementioned accounts. Also, the data elementsthat comprise purchase data may optionally include: the date/time of thepurchase, the merchant selling the product, the location of the purchase(e.g., physical or digital location), the products purchased,descriptions of the products purchased, quantities purchased, the amountof taxes paid for the purchase, the amount of discount redeemed duringthe purchase, the shipping address/billing address of the purchase, thename of the purchaser, the currency used, the shopping ‘lane’ or‘terminal’ used to make the purchase, and/or any other informationrelevant to a purchase or transaction.

Purchase data also may include, for example and without limitation, dataabout items purchased during a purchase transaction, the location of apurchase transaction, the method(s) of payment used during the purchasetransaction, and/or any other data about purchase of goods or servicesat or with one or more merchants and/or service providers. Data aboutitems purchased may include, for example, stock keeping unit (SKU) leveldata and related SKU data attributes that allow a merchant to uniquelyidentify goods or services. Data about the location of a purchasetransaction may include geocoded data about the merchant associated withthe purchase transaction. Where the purchase transaction is an onlinetransaction, data about the location of a purchase transaction mayinclude Internet Protocol (IP) address information, Domain Name System(DNS) information and/or other like information that enablesidentification of the online merchant or location of the purchase. Dataabout the payment method(s) used may include any information about thetype of card used, including, for example, rewards programs associatedwith the card used and/or any other information to describe the paymentmethod(s) used during a purchase transaction.

As referred to herein, a purchase or purchase transaction, may be anyfinancial transaction where an item, good, or service is exchanged formoney or a monetary equivalent. A purchase may, for example, result in adecrease in a value associated with a purchaser and an increase in avalue or benefit to the merchant, seller, or service provider.

From this purchase data or like information, a financial institution mayderive many other factors, including for example but not by way oflimitation, the potential value of a customer to an advertiser, ademographic segment of a customer, or any other relevant information.The financial institution or bank advertiser may also have the abilityto measure the impact of advertisements delivered to customers. Also,the financial institution or bank advertiser may pool customer data andallow bidding to one or more advertisers and allow advertisers to bid onthe right to present an advertisement to a customer. By example and notby way of limitation, the institution may utilize one or more databasesto store pooled customer data. Additionally, one or more advertisers mayreceive access to the data pool for informational or analysis purposes.

In an exemplary embodiment, an institution may provide an account to oneor more other parties, who may be advertisers. An advertiser may be anentity desiring to advertise to its customers using the advertisingservices of, for example, a financial institution or bank advertiser. Anadvertiser may utilize the account with the financial institution orbank advertiser to select targeting strategies for one or more messagesto a customer, which may optionally be based on purchase data. Atargeting strategy may be any factor for allowing targeting of acustomer, for example and not by way of limitation, the spending amountof a customer, the type of purchases made by a customer, locations wherea customer utilizes an account, the amount that a customer travels, orany other targeting strategy capable of being derived from financialinstitution, bank, and/or purchase data.

An advertiser may identify one or more customers through the targetingstrategy. Upon identification, an advertiser may bid on one or morecustomers based on a number of factors, which may include a standardizedmetric. For example and not by way of limitation, the standardizedmetric may be cost per offer delivered, cost per advertisementdelivered, cost per cookie dropped, cost per redemption, cost peradvertisement redeemed, cost per repeat customer created, number of newcustomers attracted (e.g. an institution may show temporal or otherrelation between message delivery and a purchase, redemption, or otheraction, or any other viable metric serving to provide measurement ofdistribution or redemption of an advertisement. Additionally, thefinancial institution or advertiser may delineate a plurality ofcustomer groups. An advertiser may bid on a customer group such that themost desirable groups are more expensive and the least desirable groupsare less expensive.

In an exemplary embodiment, the financial institution or bank advertisermay present selected customers with selected advertisements. For exampleand not by way of limitation, an advertisement may be a text, photo, orimage section on a bank statement or web site, a display on a mobiledevice, affiliate and/or partner website, ATM screen, radio station,television advert, or any communication to a customer and/orpersonalization of customer experience in order to provide discounts,promote product features, alter customer buying behavior, requestfeedback on products, solicit referral activity, signing up customersfor loyalty programs, or any other relevant action. The financialinstitution or bank advertiser may utilize cookies, applicationprogramming interfaces (APIs), or other like software mechanisms topresent the selected advertisements to customers via the Internet,television, a mobile device, or other like electronic device. Thefinancial institution or bank advertiser may store the variousadvertisements for selection in, for example, an advertisement database.

Also, the financial institution or bank advertiser may record successrates of the advertisements. The financial institution or bankadvertiser may provide analytics to an advertiser. The analytics mayinclude, for example, customer information, success rates, totaladvertisements presented, timing and context of each of advertisement,or per card swipe, incremental sale, segmented data (e.g. existingversus new customers, new customers ever vs. new in that quarter, etc.)and/or any distribution or outcome metrics. For example and not by wayof limitation, a customer, consumer, business, advertiser, and/orinstitution may request analytics alone, analytics regarding the resultsof their advertisements or messages, or otherwise request analytics.Also, a bidding process may optionally be performed with regard toanalytic data alone or in addition to other advertisements, messages,etc.

The financial institution or bank advertiser may implement securityprotocols and safeguards to protect user information. For example andnot by way of limitation, information which would permit a customer,consumer, business, and/or institution to be identified may beanonymized to protect a customer, consumer, business, and/orinstitution's privacy. Also, the institution my implement encryption,authentication, firewalls, and any other available security protocol.

In an exemplary embodiment, a financial institution may collect customerinformation and divide the customers into a number of segments. Thefinancial institution may then solicit bids for a customer segment fromone or more advertisers, those bids optionally reflecting a monetaryamount that an advertiser is willing to pay and/or would have to pay inorder to present an advertisement to a customer segment. Exemplarycustomer segments may include, without limitation, customers segmentedby credit score bands, customers having certain amounts of rewardpoints, customers who spend particular amounts per month ontravel-related expenses, customers who have certain interest rates,customers who spend particular amounts per month on groceries, or anyother like segments that can be informed by purchase data. For example,financial institution or bank advertiser may then solicit bids for anadvertisement to customers who spend at least $1,000 per month ontravel-related expenses. The financial institution or bank advertisermay receive the bids from advertisers via an online advertisementauction similar to the one described herein, whereby, for example, oneadvertiser bids 5 cents per advertisement to each of the customerswithin the segment and another advertisement bids 7 cents peradvertisement to each of the customers within the segment. The financialinstitution may select the winning bidder and present an advertisementto one or more customer segment according to the winning bid.

FIG. 1 depicts an exemplary system 100 for providing advertiser auctionsbased on segmentation informed by purchase data. System 100 may includeone or more advertisers 102, a financial institution 104, a biddingserver 106, a network 108, and one or more customers 110.

One or more advertisers 102 may be in communication with the system. Theone or more advertisers 102 may be, for example and not by way oflimitation, a retailer, company, service provider, or any otheradvertiser.

A financial institution 104 may operate as a financial institution orbank advertiser as described herein. For example, a financialinstitution 104 may collect and maintain data pertaining to one or morecustomers 110. The financial institution 104 may also maintain a biddingserver 106. The one or more advertisers may communicate with the biddingserver 106 via, for example, network 108, in order to place bidspertaining to one or more customers 110 or groups comprising one or morecustomers 110. Financial institution 104 may utilize cookies,application programming interfaces (APIs), or other like softwaremechanisms to receive bids and present the selected advertisements tocustomers via the Internet, television, a mobile device, or other likeelectronic device. The information may include, but is not limited to,name, address, social security number, income information, transactioninformation, demographic information, or any other information.

Network 108 may enable communication between a financial institution104, one or more advertisers 102, and a bidding server 106. For example,Network 108 may be one or more of a wireless network, a wired network orany combination of wireless network and wired network. For example,network 108 may include one or more of a fiber optics network, a passiveoptical network, a cable network, an Internet network, a satellitenetwork, a wireless LAN, a Global System for Mobile Communication(“GSM”), a Personal Communication Service (“PCS”), a Personal AreaNetwork (“PAN”), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), MultimediaMessaging Service (MMS), Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS), Short MessageService (SMS), Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) based systems, CodeDivision Multiple Access (CDMA) based systems, D-AMPS, Wi-Fi, FixedWireless Data, IEEE 802.11b, 802.15.1, 802.11n and 802.11g or any otherwired or wireless network for transmitting and receiving a data signal.

In addition, network 108 may include, without limitation, telephonelines, fiber optics, IEEE Ethernet 902.3, a wide area network (“WAN”), alocal area network (“LAN”), or a global network such as the Internet.Also network 108 may support an Internet network, a wirelesscommunication network, a cellular network, or the like, or anycombination thereof. Network 108 may further include one network, or anynumber of the exemplary types of networks mentioned above, operating asa stand-alone network or in cooperation with each other. Network 108 mayutilize one or more protocols of one or more network elements to whichthey are communicatively coupled. Network 108 may translate to or fromother protocols to one or more protocols of network devices. Althoughnetwork 108 is depicted as a single network, it should be appreciatedthat according to one or more embodiments, network 108 may comprise aplurality of interconnected networks, such as, for example, theInternet, a service provider's network, a cable television network,corporate networks, and home networks.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example system 200 that may be usedby a service provider 210. As described herein, the example system 200may be used by, for example, financial institution or bank advertisers,advertisers, and/or as bidding service providers. The exemplary system200 may comprise an advertiser 102 system, a financial institution 104system, and/or a bidding server 106. As shown in FIG. 2, an examplesystem 200 may include or more service provider (SP) servers 215 (e.g.,SP server 215 a, SP server 215 b) and one or more SP databases 213(e.g., database 213 a, and database 213 b), which may be owned,operated, and/or managed by, for example a service provider such as, forexample an advertiser, a financial institution or bank advertiser orbidding service provider.

SP servers 215 a, 215 b can be physical computers, or computer systems,configured to run one or more services to support users of othercomputers on one or more networks and/or computer programs executing onphysical computers, or computer systems, and configured to serve therequests of other programs that may be operating on one or more servers(not shown) or on other computing devices, such as customer computingdevices 110. SP servers 215 a, 215 b can include, by way of example andnot limitation, communication servers, database servers, fax servers,file servers, mail servers, print servers, name servers, web servers,proxy servers, gaming servers, etc. In some aspects, SP servers 215 a,215 b may be configured to transmit and/or receive information to and/orfrom client computing devices 110, other servers (e.g., SP serversassociated with, for example, financial institution or bank advertisers,advertisers and bidding service providers, Internet Service Provider(ISP) servers (not shown), etc.), and/or databases (not shown) directlyand/or indirectly via any combination of wired and/or wirelesscommunication systems, method, and/or devices, including, for example,network 108. SP servers 215 a, 215 b may include one or more physicalservers, or server systems, and/or one or more proxy servers, eachconfigured to run one or more services to support other computers orcomputer systems, such as, for example, client computer systems (notshown). In certain embodiments, the same server devices may perform theroles of physical SP servers 215 a, 215 b and/or proxy SP servers 215 a,215 b.

One or more SP Databases 213 a, 213 b can be one or more computingdevices configured to store databases, e.g., organized collections ofdata and their data structures, and/or execute database managementsystems, e.g., computer programs configured to control the creation,maintenance, and use of the database. Collectively, databases and theirdatabase management systems can be referred to as database systems. Asused herein, a database can refer to databases, database managementsystems, and/or database systems. In some aspects, database can beconfigured to store databases, while database management systems arestored and executed on one or more remote computing devices, such ascomputing devices 110, and/or one or more remote servers, such as SPservers 215 a, 215 b. Databases 213 a, 213 b can include softwaredatabase programs configured to store data associated with SP servers215 a, 215 b and their associated applications or processes, such as,for example, standard databases or relational databases. Databases 213a, 213 b can include relationship database management systems (RDBMS)that may be configured to run as a server on SP servers 215 a, 215 b.Databases 213 a, 213 b can be configured to transmit and/or receiveinformation to and/or from client computing devices 110, SP servers 215a, 215 b, and/or other databases directly and/or indirectly via anycombination of wired and/or wireless communication systems, method,and/or devices, including, for example, network 108.

In the embodiment of FIG. 1, computing devices associated with customer110 may communicate directly with SP servers via a network usingstandard Internet Protocols, such as HTTP, transmission control protocol(TCP), internet protocol (IP), etc. For example, HTTP requests fromclient computing devices 110 may be encapsulated in TCP segments, IPdatagrams, and Ethernet frames and transmitted to SP servers, e.g., SPservers associated with financial institution 104. Third parties mayparticipate as intermediaries in the communication, such as, forexample, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or other entities thatprovide routers and link layer switches. Such third parties may not,however, analyze or review the contents of the Ethernet frames beyondthe link layer and the network layer, but instead analyze only thoseparts of the packet necessary to route communications from clientcomputing devices 110 to SP servers 130.

In one or more exemplary designs of service provider system 200, thefunctions described can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware,or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionscan be stored as one or more instructions or code on computer-readablemedium, including the computer-readable medium described above.

Computing devices associated with customer 110 may be any type ofelectronic device and/or component configured to execute one or moreprocesses, many of which are conventional. Computing devices associatedwith customer 110 can include, by way of example and not limitation,clients, desktop computers, laptop computers, network computers,workstations, personal digital assistants (PDA), tablet computers and/orelectronic readers (e.g., iPad, Kindle Fire, Playbook, Touchpad, etc.),telephony devices, smartphones, wireless base stations, wireless accessdevices, pagers, music playing devices (e.g., iPod, etc.), routers,hubs, cameras, printers, copiers, scanners, projectors, alarms, lights,home entertainment systems, audio/visual systems, home security devices,intercoms, domestic robots, appliances, HVAC systems, etc., or anycomponent or sub-component of another computing devices associated withcustomer 110 or assemblage, such as, for example, a car, a train, aplane, a boat, etc. Although not illustrated, computing devicesassociated with customer 110 can also include servers and/or databases.Computing devices associated with customer 110 may be configured totransmit and/or receive information to and/or from other clientcomputing devices 110, SP servers, and/or databases directly and/orindirectly via any combination of wired and/or wireless communicationsystems, method, and devices, including, for example, network 108.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example computing device associated withcustomer 110, consistent with the disclosed embodiments. It should bereadily apparent that the example client computing device 300 depictedin FIG. 3 represents a generalized schematic illustration and that othercomponents/devices can be added, removed, or modified. In one exampleembodiment, client computing device 300 can be configured to includeaddress translation and full virtual-memory services.

As shown in FIG. 3, each client computing device 300 can include one ormore of the following components: at least one central processing unit(CPU) 301 configured to execute computer program instructions to performvarious processes and methods, random access memory (RAM) 302 and readonly memory (ROM) 303 configured to access and store data andinformation and computer program instructions, I/O devices 304configured to provide input and/or output to client computing device 300(e.g., keyboard, mouse, display, speakers, printers, modems, networkcards, etc.), and storage media 305 or other suitable type of memory(e.g., such as, for example, RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory(PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electricallyerasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, opticaldisks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, anytype of tangible and non-transitory storage medium), where the filesthat comprise an operating system 306 a, application programs 306 bincluding, for example, web browser application, email applicationand/or other applications, and data files 306 c may be stored.

In addition, each client computing device 300 can include antennas 307,network interfaces 308 that provide wireless and/or wire line digitaland/or analog interface to one or more networks, such as network 108,over one or more network connections (not shown), a power source 309that provides an appropriate alternating current (AC) or direct current(DC) to power one or more components of client computing device 300, anda bus 310 that allows communication among the various disclosedcomponents of client computing device 300. Each of these can beconventional components and will not be discussed further.

Although not shown, each user device and service provided system, forexample, can include one or more mechanisms and/or devices by which auser device can communicate with, for example a financial institution orother service provider. For example, user device and service providersystems can include one or more encoders and/or decoders, one or moreinterleavers, one or more circular buffers, one or more multiplexersand/or de-multiplexers, one or more permuters and/or depermuters, one ormore encryption and/or decryption units, one or more modulation and/ordemodulation units, one or more arithmetic logic units and/or theirconstituent parts, etc. These mechanisms and/or devices can include anycombination of hardware and/or software components and can be included,in whole or in part, in any of the components shown in FIGS. 2 and 3.

In one or more example designs of computing device 300, the functionsdescribed can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or anycombination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions can bestored as one or more instructions or code on computer-readable medium,including the computer-readable medium described above (e.g., RAM 302,ROM 303, storage media 305, etc.). The components shown and describedwith respect to FIG. 3 also may be included within service providersystem 200 to enable the systems and methods described herein.

FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary method for providing advertiser auctionsbased on segmentation informed by purchase data. At step 402, the methodmay start.

At step 404, an institution may receive a request from an advertiser. Invarious examples, a financial institution 104 (e.g., a financialinstitution or bank advertiser) may receive a request from an entity(e.g., advertiser 102) desiring to advertise to the customers 110 offinancial institution 104. For example and not by way of limitation, arequest may include a request to target one or more customers or one ormore customer groups or segments with one or more advertisements. In oneexample, a financial institution may receive a request from anadvertiser to target customers of the financial institution who spendmore than $1000 per month on travel-related expenses. A financialinstitution also may receive a request from an advertiser to targetcustomers of the financial institution who have a credit score over 800.Other similar requests to target one or more customers or one or morecustomer groups or segments with one or more advertisements may bereceived. In one example, an advertiser may communicate the request andthe financial institution or bank advertiser may receive the request viaa network such as, network 108.

At step 406, the institution may provide information to an advertiserregarding one or more advertising options. In an example embodiment, aninstitution may receive an inquiry from an advertiser regardingtargeting a customer segment with one or more advertisements. Theinstitution may respond by sending information about the target segment,which may include but is not limited to, the amount of customers in thesegment, the average cost of an advertisement for a given segment, anacknowledgement that the segment is available for advertising, or anyother relevant information. For example, where an institution receives arequest from an advertiser to target customers of the financialinstitution who spend more than $1000 per month on travel-relatedexpenses, the institution may respond that it has, for example 750 suchcustomers, that the institution is able to initiate an auction foradvertisements to that segment, and that the starting bid is 5 cents percustomer advertisement. The response also may include other informationand may be communicated via a network to the advertiser.

At step 408, the institution may utilize, for example, a bidding serverto receive one or more bids from one or more advertisers regarding acustomer or segment of customers. For example and not by way oflimitation, a bid may represent a monetary amount that an advertiser isprepared to pay in order to have one or more advertisements presented tothe customer or segment of customers. The bid may optionally represent acost per advertisement, a total cost, or any other means of bidding thatcould be used in such a method. The institution may optionally provide atime or other window in which it will accept advertisement bids. Invarious embodiments, the bidding server may be operated by theinstitution. The bidding server also may be operated by a biddingservice provider. Where, for example, an auction is ongoing foradvertisements to customers of the financial institution who spend morethan $1000 per month on travel-related expenses, the institution mayreceive the initial bid of 5 cents per advertisement and a subsequentbid of, for example, 7 cents per advertisement. This process may go onfor a finite period of time as defined by the auction, and/or until acertain bid, for example 20 cents per advertisement, is received. In thevarious examples, the financial institution and/or the bidding serviceprovider may establish the parameters for the bidding auction.

At step 410, the institution may analyze the one or more bids receivedto determine what advertisements, if any, the institution might presentto one or more customers or segments of customers. For example and notby way of limitation, the institution may determine that the overallhigh bidder's advertisements should be presented to one or morecustomers or segments of customers. Also, the institution may take intoaccount other information, such as advertisement preferences, businessrelationships, overall advertiser monetary contribution, size ofadvertiser, content of the advertisement, or any other factor which maydetermine the desirability of a given advertisement.

At step 412, the institution may present the one or more advertisementsto one or more customers or segments of customers. For example and notby way of limitation, the institution may place a graphical or textualadvertisement on a billing statement or other document for presentationto one or more customers or segments of customers. Also, the institutionmay place a graphical or textual advertisement on a web page accessed byone or more customers or segments of customers. The institution also maytransmit, for example, mobile advertisements to user devices associatedwith one or more customers. The institution may also provide any otheradvertisements to one or more customers or segments of customers basedon advertiser requests, the bidding process, or any other factor. Atstep 414, the method may end.

FIG. 5 depicts an exemplary method for providing advertiser auctionsbased on segmentation informed by purchase data. At step 502, the methodmay start.

At step 504, an institution may receive a request from a requester. Forexample and not by way of limitation, a request may include a request toobtain information pertaining to one or more customers or segments ofcustomers. At step 506, the institution may provide information to anadvertiser regarding one or more information options. In an exemplaryembodiment, an institution may receive an inquiry from an requesterregarding obtaining customer and/or transaction information relating toa customer segment. The institution may respond by sending informationabout the target segment, which may include but is not limited to, theamount of customers in the segment, the average cost of informationpertaining to a given segment, an acknowledgement that the segment isavailable for information-gathering purposes, or any other relevantinformation.

At step 508, the institution may utilize a bidding server to receive oneor more bids from one or more institutions regarding one or morecustomers or segment of customers. For example and not by way oflimitation, a bid may represent a monetary amount that a requester isprepared to pay in order to obtain information pertaining to a customeror segment of customers. The bid may optionally represent a cost ofinformation per customer, a total cost, or any other means of biddingthat could be used in such a method. The institution may optionallyprovide a time or other window in which it will accept information bids.

At step 510, the institution may analyze the one or more bids receivedto determine what information, if any, the institution might provide toone or more requesters. For example and not by way of limitation, theinstitution may determine that the overall high bidder may obtaincustomer and/or transaction information pertaining to one or morecustomers or segments of customers. Also, the institution may take intoaccount other information, such as security practices, businessrelationships, overall requester monetary contribution, size ofrequester, content of the information requested, the requester's desireduse of the information, or any other factor which may determine thedesirability of a given information request.

At step 512, the institution may present the one or more advertisementsto one or more customers or segments of customers. For example and notby way of limitation, the institution may place a graphical or textualadvertisement on a billing statement or other document for presentationto one or more customers or segments of customers. Also, the institutionmay use one or more computer processors to place a graphical, audio,video, or textual advertisement on a web page accessed by one or morecustomers or segments of customers. The institution may also provide anyother advertisements to one or more customers or segments of customersbased on advertiser requests, the bidding process, or any other factor.At step 314, the method may end.

In the preceding specification, various preferred embodiments have beendescribed with references to the accompanying drawings. It will,however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be madethereto, and additional embodiments may be implemented, withoutdeparting from the broader scope of the invention as set forth in theclaims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to beregarded as an illustrative rather than restrictive sense.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system, comprising: a centralizeddatabase at a system of a financial institution that stores pooledfinancial information about multiple customers of the financialinstitution, including stock keeping unit (SKU) level data and geocodeddata, wherein the centralized database is available for access to boththe financial institution and multiple requestors; a communicationprocessor that receives a request to access the centralized database totarget the multiple customers of the financial institution with anadvertisement from the multiple requesters via a network based on thepooled financial information, that securely facilitates simultaneouscommunication and access to the pooled financial information about themultiple customers to the multiple requesters; an auction server that:creates an online auction based on the request; receives multiple bidsfor the online auction from one or more bidders; and determines one ormore successful bidders out of the one or more bidders based onstandardized metrics comprising cost per offer delivered, cost peradvertisement delivered or cost per cookie dropped; and an advertisementserver that: determines that a previous mobile advertisement of a firstformat is currently displayed on a mobile billing statement via adisplay of a mobile device of each of the multiple customers; causes themobile device of each of the multiple customers to remove the previousmobile advertisement of the first format from the mobile billingstatement displayed via the display; dynamically generates an updatedmobile advertisement of a second format based on the one or moresuccessful bidders as determined by the auction server; transmits theupdated mobile advertisement comprising the second format for display onthe mobile billing statement via the display of the mobile device ofeach of the multiple customers on behalf of the one or more successfulbidders as determined by the auction server; receives updated financialinformation about the multiple customers in response to providing theupdated mobile advertisement in real time, wherein the updated financialinformation includes sales data; determines analytic information basedon distribution and/or outcome metrics based on results of the updatedmobile advertisement; stores the analytic information; and provides theanalytic information to multiple bidders and the auction server in realtime, wherein the auction server creates a new online auction with abidding process based on the stored analytic information.
 2. The systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the financial information about themultiple customers of the financial institution is segmented.
 3. Thesystem according to claim 2, wherein the financial information about themultiple customers of the financial institution is segmented based onpurchase data associated with the multiple customers of the financialinstitution.
 4. The system according to claim 2, wherein the financialinformation about the multiple customers of the financial institution issegmented based on credit information associated with the multiplecustomers of the financial institution.
 5. The system according to claim1, wherein the request is to target a segment of the multiple customersof the financial institution based on purchase data associated with themultiple customers of the financial institution.
 6. The system accordingto claim 1, wherein the request is to target a segment of the multiplecustomers of the financial institution based on credit informationassociated with the multiple customers of the financial institution. 7.The system of claim 1, wherein the updated financial informationcomprises at least one of time and date of advertisement presentation,context of advertisement presentation, and purchase data.
 8. The systemof claim 7, wherein the analytic information comprises at least one oftotal advertisements presented, a number of purchases by the multiplecustomers related to the advertisement, a number of existing customerpurchases, and a number of new customer purchases.
 9. The system ofclaim 8, wherein the analytic information is based on a predeterminedtime period after providing the advertisement.
 10. The system of claim2, wherein the financial information about the multiple customers of thefinancial institution is segmented based on customer travel data. 11.The system of claim 3, wherein the purchase data comprises at least oneof: a total spending amount, a type of purchase, and a location ofpurchase.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiple bids for theonline auction from one or more bidders is based on a standardizedmetric.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein the standardized metriccomprises at least one of: cost per delivery, cost per cookie dropped,cost per redemption, cost per repeat customer, and cost per newcustomer.
 14. The system of claim 2, wherein the financial informationabout the multiple customers of the financial institution is segmentedbased on customer rewards points.
 15. The system of claim 1, whereindetermining the one or more successful bidders occurs at a predeterminedperiod of time defined by the request.
 16. The system of claim 1,wherein determining the one or more successful bidders occurs at apredetermined bidding price.
 17. The system of claim 1, wherein theauction server implements security protocols and safeguards to anonymizeand protect private data of the multiple customers of the financialinstitution.
 18. The system of claim 1, wherein the first formatcomprises a graphical format and the second format comprises a textualformat.
 19. A method, comprising: storing, in a centralized database ata system of a financial institution, pooled financial information aboutmultiple customers of the financial institution, including stock keepingunit (SKU) level data and geocoded data, wherein the centralizeddatabase is available for access to both the financial institution andmultiple requestors; receiving, via a network, a request to access thecentralized database to target the multiple customers of the financialinstitution with an advertisement from requesters via a network based onthe pooled financial information, that securely facilitates simultaneouscommunication and access to the pooled financial information aboutmultiple customers to multiple requestors; creating, using an auctionserver, an online auction based on the request; receiving, via anetwork, multiple bids for the online auction from multiple bidders;determining, using the auction server, multiple successful bidders outof the multiple bidders based on standardized metrics comprising costper offer delivered, cost per advertisement delivered or cost per cookiedropped; determining, using an advertisement server, that a previousmobile advertisement of a first format is currently displayed on awebpage via a display of a mobile device of each of the multiplecustomers; causing, using the advertisement server, the mobile device ofeach of the multiple customers to remove the previous mobileadvertisement of the first format from the webpage displayed via thedisplay; dynamically generating, using the advertisement server, anupdated mobile advertisement of a second format based on the multiplesuccessful bidders; transmitting, using the advertisement server, theupdated mobile advertisement of the second format for display on thewebpage via the display of the mobile device of each of the multiplecustomers on behalf of the multiple successful bidders; receiving, via anetwork, updated financial information about the multiple customers inresponse to providing the updated mobile advertisement in real time,wherein the updated financial information includes sales data;determining, using the advertisement server, analytic information basedon distribution and/or outcome metrics based on results of the updatedmobile advertisement; storing the analytic information in data storage;and providing, using the advertisement server, the analytic informationto multiple bidders and the auction server in real time, wherein theauction server creates a new online auction with a bidding process basedon the stored analytic information.
 20. The method according to claim19, wherein the financial information about the multiple customers ofthe financial institution is segmented.
 21. The method according toclaim 20, wherein the financial information about the multiple customersof the financial institution is segmented based on purchase dataassociated with the multiple customers of the financial institution. 22.The method according to claim 20, wherein the financial informationabout the multiple customers of the financial institution is segmentedbased on credit information associated with the multiple customers ofthe financial institution.
 23. The method according to claim 19, whereinthe request is to target a segment of the multiple customers of thefinancial institution based on purchase data associated with themultiple customers of the financial institution.
 24. The methodaccording to claim 19, wherein the request is to target a segment of themultiple customers of the financial institution based on creditinformation associated with the multiple customers of the financialinstitution.
 25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium withan executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs amicroprocessor to perform the following steps: store, in a centralizeddatabase at a system of a financial institution, pooled financialinformation about multiple customers of the financial institution,including stock keeping unit (SKU) level data and geocoded data, whereinthe centralized database is available for access to both the financialinstitution and multiple requestors; receive, via a network, a requestto access the centralized database to target the multiple customers ofthe financial institution with an advertisement from a requester via anetwork based on the pooled financial information that securelyfacilitates simultaneous communication and access to the pooledfinancial information about multiple customers to multiple requestors;create, using an auction server, an online auction based on the request;receive, via a network, multiple bids for the online auction frommultiple bidders; determine, using the auction server, multiplesuccessful bidders out of the multiple bidders based on standardizedmetrics comprising cost per offer delivered, cost per advertisementdelivered or cost per cookie dropped; determine, using an advertisementserver, that a previous mobile advertisement of a first format iscurrently displayed on a webpage via a display of a mobile device ofeach of the multiple customers; cause, using the advertisement server,the mobile device of each of the multiple customers to remove theprevious mobile advertisement of the first format from the webpagedisplayed via the display; dynamically generate, using the advertisementserver, an updated mobile advertisement of a second format based on themultiple successful bidders; transmit, using the advertisement server,the updated mobile advertisement of the second format for display on thewebpage via the display of the mobile device of each of the multiplecustomers on behalf of the multiple successful bidders as determined bythe auction server; receive, via a network, updated financialinformation about the multiple customers in response to providing theupdated mobile advertisement in real time, wherein the updated financialinformation includes sales data; determine, using the advertisementserver, analytic information based on distribution and/or outcomemetrics based on results of the updated mobile advertisement; store theanalytic information; and provide the analytic information to multiplebidders and the auction server in real time, wherein the auction servercreates a new online auction with a bidding process based on the storedanalytic information.
 26. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium according to claim 25, wherein the financial information aboutthe multiple customers of the financial institution is segmented. 27.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim26, wherein the financial information about the multiple customers ofthe financial institution is segmented based on purchase data associatedwith the multiple customers of the financial institution.
 28. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 26,wherein the financial information about the multiple customers of thefinancial institution is segmented based on credit informationassociated with the multiple customers of the financial institution. 29.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim25, wherein the request is to target a segment of the multiple customersof the financial institution based on purchase data associated with themultiple customers of the financial institution.
 30. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium according to claim 25, wherein therequest is to target a segment of the multiple customers of thefinancial institution based on credit information associated with themultiple customers of the financial institution.